
Originally Posted by
Ozme52
It's always been more expensive to drive in Europe. Our prices are "subsidized" by the US government... to a different degree than say Venuzuela where gas 6 months ago was about 17 cents a gallon, but none-the-less, yes, we've always gotten a "deal" on gasoline/gasolene by European standards.
But... Europe is relatively small and tightly packed. Alternate modes of transportation are readily available and are convenient to use. Bicycles, taxis, subways, trains, trams, buses. I would have to drive 4 miles, pay to park (no way to take a bike on the bus) to catch a bus that only stops twice a day, to endure a 45 minute drive to get to town... another 10 miles. The cost to me is $2 which is about what the total cost is for me to drive all the way to town...
Getting home... well... what can I say.
Now... when I lived in the big city... Los Angeles... well, I didn't even have the option unless I wanted to sit on 5 buses for four hours to go 30 miles to work... and get there 2 hours late assuming I caught the first bus of the day.
I curtail my driving by making sure I combine all my daily errands into a single trip... and I try to limit that to 3 times a week.